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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA, 



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^ foetal life anD Utteratute 



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octal iife ^^. 



ano 



^ iCtterature ^ ^ 



Fifty Years Ago 



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'^^'^-^Si^^-o'-wv 




Boston 

9^ Boyhton Street 

M DCCC LXXXVIII 






Copyright, 1888, 
By CUPPLES & HURD. 

Ail rights reserved. 



In publishing this monograph anony- 
mouslyy I have no wish to seek conceal- 
ment, but simply to let my statements rest 
on their own merits. 

Its publication has been urged by friends 
who sympathized with its sentiments^ and 
in whose judgment I have confidence, 

I may say I have spoken of the living 
in no severer terms than they have applied 
to those who can no longer reply, but whose 
memory lives too vividly in my affections 
to suffer me to remain silent. 



ContentiBf, 



PAGB 

I. Reasons for Presenting these Thoughts 9 
II. Latitude in Religious Belief. — Newspa- 
pers. — Modern Progress in Swindling 15 

III. Athletics. — Aspect of Culture Bewailed. 

— We had a few Authors then . . 25 

IV. The Five of Clubs. — Washington Irv- 

ing. — Latter-Day Writers 37 

V. Charles Dickens and Washington Irv- 
ing. — George Ticknor and George S. 

HiLLARD 51 

VI. Professor Felton. — The Impossibility of 

Responding 67 

VII. Salem. — Nathaniel Hawthorne. — Salem 

Men 79 



^ 



I. 

^ "^ta^m^ foe ^tt^mtm^ t^tge 



"^^^T" 



I 



IF the writers of fiction who cater to 
modern tastes are correct in their 
comments upon the authors who were 
popular half a century ago, or upon 
the prevailing social and literary cul- 
ture of that period, my position in 
venturing to appear in public will be 
not unlike that of Rip Van Winkle on 
his reappearance after his long sleep, 
during which the Revolution had taken 
place ; and an apology may be required 
for my antiquated style of thought and 
speech. 

If such be the case, I can only plead 
in palliation of my offence that I have 



12 fecial !life anD literature 

not yet acquired such familiarity with 
the popular literature of to-day as to 
appreciate its superiority of style and 
composition, or accept it as a substi- 
tute for that on which my early tastes 
were formed. 

I venture also to hope that those who 
are disposed to be censorious will re- 
flect that the full adolescence of human 
intellect may not even yet have been 
reached. Fifty years seems a very long 
period to look upon in advance, but 
it will seem very short when viewed 
in the retrospect ; and there is a bare 
possibility that names which now flash 
upon us from every book-stall may then 
hold no higher place in the world s es- 
timation than they now assign to the 
writers who entertained us at that day. 

However incredible it may appear to 
modern writers, and perhaps to many 
readers of the present generation, it is 



ifift^ fms ago* 13 

nevertheless strictly true that no story- 
teller now upon the stage is watched 
or listened to with a degree of interest 
at all to be compared with that we then 
bestowed upon Scott, Irving, Dickens, 
or Thackeray, to say nothing of Bul- 
wer, D'Israeli, Cooper, Herman Mel- 
ville, and the Brontes. 

If my statement elicits the response 
that the standard of literary taste and 
the general tone of society at that day 
were so far inferior to the present that 
they were satisfied with viands which 
would now be thought insipid, I am 
forced to admit that many sources of 
entertainment that are now in vogue 
were then unthought of, and some of 
them would have been regarded as at 
least of questionable character. The 
stage then offered us no such attrac- 
tions as " Pinafore " and the " Pirates 
of Penzance/' We had to content 



14 foetal !life ana ILiteratuw* 

ourselves as best we might with such 
operas as " La Sonnambula/' " II Tro- 
vatore," or " Massaniello ; " with old 
comedies like the '' School for Scan- 
dal," or " She Stoops to Conquer ; " to 
enjoy heartily the pantomimes of the 
Ravel family, or try to obtain a concep- 
tion of Shakespeare's characters 
through the interpretations of 
the Kembles, father and 
daughter, of Kean, Ma- 
cready, and the 
elder Booth. 




II. 

^ Hatttwiie in lUeligioujef 55elicf. 
Sxt0^ in ^iaitMing* 



*^|^ 



II. 

^ ilatitutie in ileJtgtoujS ^elitt 

IT is certainly an evidence of intel- 
lectual advance that much greater 
latitude than formerly is now allowed 
in the matter of religious belief, and 
the bitterness of sectarianism is not 
only sensibly diminished, but is gen- 
erally regarded as evidence of a very 
narrow mind. 

But on the other hand, no such 
burlesques of religion would then 

have been tolerated as the " Salvation 
Armies" and sensational preachers, 
whose extravagances can excite no 
feeling but disgust in the mind of 
any one who has the faintest concep- 
tion of truly devout feeling. The 



1 8 Social }liU auD ^Literature 

plea of mere curiosity is no excuse 
for those who give the sanction of 
their presence at such gatherings, 
and thus afford moral and material 
aid to a disgraceful exhibition. 

The mysteries of Spiritualism had 
made some show a century or two 
before, under the name of witchcraft, 
but, after being pretty effectually si- 
lenced at Salem, had fallen into such 
disrepute that the belief in it had 
come to be regarded as sufficient evi- 
dence of gross ignorance, until it was 
revived and upheld by modern cul- 
ture. 

" Metaphysical doctors " had not 
then entered the field of medical 
practice, though the theory of mind- 
cure is as old as Marcus Aurelius, who 
puts it as follows : " Do not suppose 
you are hurt, and your complaint 
ceases. Cease your complaint, and 



5fifvs ^me ^zo. 19 

you are not hurt." And Hamlet sets 
it forth in a single pithy sentence 
when he tells Rosencrantz, " There 
is nothing either good or bad but 
thinking makes it so." 



Newspaper literature now com- 
prises a world of interest, which was 
undreamt of half a century ago. We 
had then no such appreciation of the 
prize-ring and its heroes as has since 
been developed, and in fact regarded 
the whole thing as one of the disgust- 
ing barbarisms that we had outgrown. 

We had so little conception of the 
refinement of modern culture that a 
newspaper reporter who presumed to 
pry into domestic affairs, for the pur- 
pose of laying them before the public, 
would have been ignominiously kicked 



20 Social %ift anu iLtterature 

from the door. Lists of wedding 
presents were not then supposed to 
concern the general public, and back- 
handed advertisements under the 
guise of testimonial gifts and speeches, 
at the instance and cost of the recip- 
ient, or published portraits on simi- 
lar terms, were unknown, and would 
have sufficed to damn the man who 
made use of them. Canada had not 
then acquired its present reputation 
as a sanitarium for bankers afflicted 
with a plethora of other people's 
money, — a disease which had not 
then attained such alarming preva- 
lence as at present. Indeed, the nov- 
elties in the line of sensational crime 
that have been introduced since that 
day are altogether beyond enumera- 
tion. It seems to me but yesterday 
that, not New England alone, but the 
whole country, was thrilled with hor- 



ifift^ ^ms 020* 21 

ror at the murder of old Mr. White 
in his bed in Salem ; and the trial 
of the murderers, with Daniel Web- 
ster as prosecuting attorney, was read 
from Maine to New Orleans. But 
who cares for such commonplace en- 
tertainments now ? We can hardly 
take up a paper that does not contain 
accounts of murders in such variety 
of style as plainly to evince our great 
advance in the arts of design, though 
it must be confessed that no murder 
of recent days has surpassed that old- 
time Salem tragedy in the element 
of dramatic horror which environed 
its inception, perpetration, and final 
denoument. 



Among the evidences of modern 
progress may be cited the varied 



22 Social %ift ano literature 

forms of swindling advertisements, 
prominent among which is that of 
deluding the newspaper reader into 
the perusal of an item bearing the 
caption, and opening with a reference 
to some topic of general and vital 
interest, which proves to be only a 
decoy to lure him on to a point at 
which an advertisement may be 
sprung upon him of some nostrum 
which has already been thrust in his 
face till its very name is enough to 
give him a sense of nausea. 

The trick has no intrinsic impor- 
tance, and intelligent readers are of 
course rarely caught by it, but the 
great mass of the simpler sort are 
ready to applaud the ingenuity it 
displays, and fail to perceive that 
those who can stoop to its perpetra- 
tion are no whit better than sneak 
thieves, and would feel no hesitation 



Sfift^ ^me ago* 23 

at picking a pocket, if safe from detec- 
tion. 

They are sticklers for the obser- 
vance of external forms, — are for the 
most part of sanctimonious habit, and 
rigid censors of those who neglect 
the ceremonials of worship, and they 
constitute the rotten timber in the 
social fabric, the dread of whose pres- 
ence tends to destroy confidence in 
the stability and permanence of our 
institutions. 

It must be confessed, however, that 

the necessity of constant watchfulness 

thus inspired tends to relieve 

the monotony which was 

the attendant of 

old-fashioned 

honesty. 



M|K 



III. 

^ %ttiittit0, — <^^pttt of Culture 

25etoaileii.— I©e Ijab a feto 

%ut^0t0 tljett. 






III. 

BOAT-RACING was not then in- 
cluded in the curriculum of the 
colleges, and the reports of base-ball 
matches, which now (perhaps justly) 
hold quite as prominent a place in 
the newspapers as the debates in Con- 
gress, would not then have been 
thought worthy the perusal of men of 
mature years. 

It is true that a lack of taste for 
athletic sports was then regarded as 
one of the serious deficiencies in our 
national character, and able writers 
used to urge their more frequent prac- 
tice as a means of physical develop- 
ment we could not afford to neglect. 



28 Social ILift auD %immivt 

But those advocates would hardly 
have been satisfied with the modern 
method of delegating the performance 
of field sports to a few hired experts 
in ball-playing, rifle-shooting, and boat- 
ing, while the great mass of people 
who attend as spectators require the 
aid of a street car for a distance of 
half a mile. 

These illustrations, which might be 
multiplied almost indefinitely, afford 
such evidence of progress in all that 
makes life desirable that it is not per- 
haps surprising that the social aspect 
of the past should appear " dim and 
gloomy" to writers who look back 
upon it from the midday effulgence in 
which they now stand. 



5fift^ i^ears? ^%o. 29 

^ "^^^ttt of Culture 25cloatlcti* 

We have evidence that such is the 
case in the following passage, in which 
Mr. Henry James bewails the meagre 
opportunities for intellectual develop- 
ment which were afforded to Nathan- 
iel Hawthorne : — 

*' His culture had been of a simple 
sort, — there was little of any other 
sort to be obtained in America in 
those days ; and though he was doubt- 
less haunted by visions of more sug- 
gestive opportunities, we may safely 
assume that he was not to his own 
perception the object of compassion 
that he appears to a critic who judges 
him after half a century's civilization 
has filtered into the dim twilight of 
that earlier time. 

" If New England was socially a 
very small place in those days, Salem 



30 Social ILife anD ^Literature 

was a still smaller one ; and if the 
American tone at large was intensely 
provincial, that of New England was 
not greatly helped by having the best 
of it. I imagine there was no appre- 
ciable group of people in New Eng- 
land at that time proposing to itself 
to enjoy life ; this was not an undertak- 
ing for which any provision had been 
made, or to which any encouragement 
was offered. Hawthorne must have 
vaguely entertained some such design 
upon destiny, but he must have felt 
that his success would have to de- 
pend wholly upon his own ingenuity. 
He was poor, he was solitary, and he 
undertook to devote himself to lit- 
erature in a community in which the 
interest in literature was as yet of the 
smallest." 

It is a merciful dispensation of 
Providence that the people of any 



5fift^ l^earfi ^so* 31 

period cannot be sensible of their mis- 
fortune in coming upon the stage of 
life before the advent of the stars 
whose brilliancy is destined to illumi- 
nate succeeding generations. It was 
my wretched fate to have attained the 
full vigor of youthful manhood at the 
period to which Mr. James refers; and 
not only that, but to have lived in that 
darkest portion of "the dim twilight 
of that earlier civilization " called Sa- 
lem. And it is doubtless owing to the 
effect of the insipid intellectual food 
and unwholesome social atmosphere 
that surrounded me, that my literary 
taste became so warped and stunted 
that I am yet unable to appreciate the 
superiority even of the writings of Mr. 
James himself to those on which we 
then had to subsist as best we might. 
Not being myself a professional lit- 
erary c^e/, I should not presume to 



32 Social 3life ano 3Literature 

offer advice as to the preparation of 
the dishes that are served up for our 
entertainment ; but when modern 
cooks begin to set forth the exquisite 
flavor of the viands they provide by 
comparison with those that were for- 
merly served, it is surely in order for 
those who have " sat at meat '' in 
other days, and retain a vivid recollec- 
tion of the fare then provided, to ex- 
press an opinion of their comparative 
merits. 



^ i©e fjati a febj %ut^ot^ t^tn. 

Scott was then, as we thought, estab- 
lished beyond the possibility of rival- 
ry in the line he had struck out for 
himself as a novelist. Dlsraeh had 
proved his genius by the production 
of " Vivian Grey," which blazed upon 
the world like a flash of lightning. 



ifift^ fms ^ZO. 33 

Bulwer's novels were eagerly sought, 
and read with avidity by multitudes in 
spite of (perhaps in consequence of) 
their bitter denunciation by the rigid 
moralists, who declared that Paul 
Clifford was converting all the young 
men into highwaymen, while the stu- 
dents of Harvard were ordering their 
coats to be cut by the rules laid down 
in Pelham. 

Then came Currer and Acton Bell, 
and all the world was talking of " Jane 
Eyre " with a fervor of interest very 
far beyond anything that any modern 
writer of fiction could elicit ; and just 
then Mr. Pickwick walked quietly 
upon the stage, and the attention of 
the whole reading world was concen- 
trated upon him and his companions, 
whose sayings were quoted and para- 
phrased till one could hardly meet an 
acquaintance on the street without an 



34 Social ILife ano 5lliterature 

interchange of " Wellerisms." Dick- 
ens easily took the front rank, and 
held it for years in spite of the absurd 
display of indignation called forth by 
his " American Notes " and " Martin 
Chuzzlewit ; " and although the more 
just estimate which time has enabled 
us to fix upon the man and his writ- 
ings has to some extent modified the 
enthusiasm with which they were at 
first greeted, it is very certain that no 
ordinary man could have aroused it, 
and its foundation is too solid to be 
shaken by supercilious comparisons 
with the more refined tastes of the 
present day. 

Thackeray appeared a few years 
later, and though less theatrical and 
brilliant than Dickens, and at first 
greatly misapprehended, his great 
work " Vanity Fair " arrested the at- 
tention of thoughtful men from the 



iFift? ^me ago^ 35 

outset, as emanating from a mind of 
wider and deeper grasp than Dick- 
ens's. We really thought we were 
pretty well provided for, and were 
quite unconscious that we "had not 
even proposed to ourselves to enjoy 
life." 

Mr. Howells tells us that neither of 
these writers would attract much at- 
tention now, but we were happily ig- 
norant of our deficiency of taste, and 
even flattered ourselves that we had 
men among us who were competent 
judges of writers, and might even pass 
for scholars. Everett, and Webster, 
and Choate, and Channing, and 
Sparks, and Quincy, and Ticknor, and 
Allston were then in their prime. 

In Salem (the smallest of the small 
in the social scale) we had Bowditch, 
and Pickering, and Story, and Pierce, 
and Prescott. We flattered our- 



36 ^om\ llife ano lliteratum 

selves at the time that we appreciated 
them, and they certainly never com- 
plained of the lack of congenial so- 
ciety. 

Doubtless our perceptions corre- 
sponded with the darkness of the so- 
cial atmosphere through which 
we were groping our way 
towards the 
dawn. 




IV. 
^ €l)c f ttje of duBjef*— l^a^ljington 



IV. 

READERS of Pierce's " Life of 
Charles Sumner," or of Samuel 
W. Longfellow's biography of his 
brother, the poet, will recall the fre- 
quent allusions to the association of 
young literary men that was known 
in Boston fifty years ago as " The Five 
of Clubs." Its members were Henry 
W. Longfellow, Charles Sumner, C. C. 
Felton, George S. Hillard, and Henry 
R. Cleveland. 

They were all about the same age, 
and were training themselves and help- 
ing each other for the course in life 
whose record is now before the world. 

Sumner had just returned from Eu- 



40 Social ILife ano literature 

rope, where he had met with perhaps 
the most brilliant reception ever ac- 
corded to so young an American, and 
was gathering strength for the con- 
test, his achievements in which are 
now matters of history. 

Longfellow and Cleveland had each 
spent years abroad, enjoying and dili- 
gently improving the best advantages 
of education Europe could afford. 
That the death of the latter, at the age 
of thirty-four, cut off as fair a promise 
of intellectual development and possi- 
ble literary distinction as has since 
been attained by the members who 
survived him, will be certified by lead- 
ing scholars of to-day who were his 
pupils. 

Pel ton was then Greek professor at 
Harvard. He was Cleveland's class- 
mate, and after graduating they were 
associated as teachers in charge of a 



^ift^ ftwcs ago. 41 

classical school at Geneseo, N. Y. 
Hillard was then the law partner of 
Charles Sumner; and up to that time, 
and for many years later, neither he 
nor Felton had enjoyed other oppor- 
tunities of culture than were available 
in "the dim twilight of intellectual 
life and taste which was the condi- 
tion of life in New England fifty years 
ago/' 

Longfellow writes to his friend 
Greene, in Rome, at this time 

(1839):- 

" And now for American literature. 
Prescott is writing a ' History of the 
Conquest of Mexico.' Willis's 'A 
TAbri ' is a collection of letters written 
from his country-seat on the Susque- 
hanna, and pubHshed in the ' Mirror ' 
as * Letters from under a Bridge ; ' 
very racy and beautiful. Hillard has 
in press a new and beautiful edition 



42 foetal %itt auD ILiterature 

of Spenser, with preface and notes by 
himself. Felton is busily at work upon 
a translation of Menzels ' German 
Literature/ He is doing it finely. 
Bulwerism is dying out. Marryatism 
ditto. Dickens reigns supreme as the 
popular writer. Bancroft has written 
a violent article against Goethe in the 
' Christian Examiner.' Washington 
Irving is writing away in the * Knick- 
erbocker.' A Miss Fuller has pub- 
lished a translation of 'flunky' Ecker- 
mann's ' Conversations with Goethe ; ' 
Dr. Bird, a new novel, etc., etc." 

To which I may add that Long- 
fellow himself was just bringing out 
'' Hyperion," and I make the above 
quotation simply as incidental evi- 
dence that we had some excuse for 
believing that at least a germ of lit- 
erary taste was then in existence. 

The intimate affectionate compan- 



Sfifvs fm& ago* 43 

ionship and interchange of thought 
and feeling in regard to the literary 
labors in which these young men were 
so fully and sympathetically engaged 
caused no small amount of good-na- 
tured chaffing, and led to their being 
designated as " The Mutual Admira- 
tion Society." 

In response to this, and in order to 
set such bantering at defiance, they 
determined to act upon the hint by 
organizing as a literary association ; 
and to avoid the apparent absurdity 
of a club of only five members, they 
adopted the title of " The Five of 
Clubs," which was original and beyond 
criticism. 

^ Jl^a^tjiitgton Sitting^ 

I was a near relative, and at that 
time a frequent inmate of the house- 



44 Social ILife anD literature 

hold, of one of the five. I was sev- 
eral years short of their average age, 
and had no pretension to the scholar- 
ship which would fit me to be their 
intellectual associate, but was on terms 
of pleasant friendship with all, and of 
familiar intimacy with at least three 
of them. With two of these my ac- 
quaintance was continued in the form 
of affectionate correspondence till 
their death. 

I was fond of reading, and fully ap- 
preciated the advantage I enjoyed in 
the frequent intercourse with men so 
well able and kindly disposed to ad- 
vise and direct my tastes, and whose 
companionship could not fail to exert 
a salutary and refining influence. 

The earliest appreciative experience 
that I can recall of a keen sense of 
literary enjoyment was some ten years 
previous to this date, about 1828, 



Sfiftv i^earg ^z^. 45 

when, as a schoolboy, I made my first 
acquaintance with Irving's " Sketch- 
Book " and " Tales of a Traveller ; " 
and these with his subsequently pub- 
lished tales are among the few books 
which have stood the test of time, and 
still retain for me the exquisite flavor, 
the rich yet delicate seasoning of racy 
humor and quiet but pithy satire, 
which commended them to my youth- 
ful palate sixty years ago. 

Later in life it became a source of 
gratification and national pride with 
me to learn that my taste was shared 
in full by Scott and Dickens, whose 
works I had then perused with such 
enjoyment that I placed great con- 
fidence in their estimate of literary 
merit. 

In a letter to Henry Brevoort, Scott 
says : — 

" I beg you to accept my best 



46 Social llife auD ILtterature 

thanks for the uncommon degree of 
entertainment which I have received 
from the most excellently jocose his- 
tory of New York. 

" I am sensible that, as a stranger to 
American parties, I must lose much 
of the concealed satire of the piece ; 
but looking only at the simple and 
obvious meaning, I have never read 
anything so closely resembling the 
stvle of Dean Swift as the annals of 
Diedrich Knickerbocker. 

" I have been employed these few 
evenings in reading them aloud to 
Mrs. Scott and two ladies who are 
our guests, and our sides have been 
absolutely sore with laughing. 

" I beg you will let me know when 
Mr. Irving takes pen in hand again, 
for assuredly I shall expect a very 
great treat." 



S^ifvs ftwce ago* 47 

It was perhaps fortunate for Sir 
Walter that he did not live to expe- 
rience the mortification he must have 
felt had he perused the criticism of 
this same work by a "latter-day" 
writer who was not born when the 
above was written. 

Mr. George Parsons Lathrop, in 
an article published some years since 
in " Scribner s Magazine," in which 
Irving is portrayed throughout as an 
insipid, milk and water writer, of 
whom America had no reason to be 
proud, disposes as follows of the work 
which Scott was weak enough to en- 

joy-— 

" In his Knickerbocker history he 
has furbished up the conventional 
Dutch type with some ingenuity. 



48 Social ILife ano iLiteratuw 

And this brings us to his humor. 
There is a smack of college wit about 
it, especially in the excess to which he 
carries pretended derivations of local 
and personal names. There is always 
in Irving's writings the mild, sweet ra- 
diance of a graceful, uncontaminated 
spirit, which comes forth here and 
there in a sort of subdued, gentle 
smile, — and this is something to be 
prized. But his humor never devel- 
ops into the full rich laugh that be- 
longs to Scott and Dickens.'' 

Several years have elapsed since 
this exposure of our ignorance and 
mistaken admiration was made pub- 
lic, and I have waited patiently in the 
hope that he who thus enlightened 
us would at least give us a sample 
of something really worth having to 
console us for our mortification. But 



5fift^ ^mg Siio. 



49 



alas for my depraved taste, which per- 
sists in rejecting the delicacies he 
offers us, and recurs with long- 
ing to the memory 
of Irving. 




\^^m^^m^^^?^^^f< 



V. 



3ict)ing,— «i5eorge Cicftnoc and 
45eorge d&* i^illarti* 




V. 



AS Mr. Lathrop mentions Dickens 
in comparison with Irving, it is 
but fair to hear Dickens's own opin- 
ion of our countryman. 

An absurd story went the rounds 
of the papers, a few years since, of 
the first meeting between Irving and 
Dickens, in which the latter was said 
to have conducted himself so offen- 
sively that all further intercourse be- 
tween them was broken off. 

It is fortunately easy to refute a 
slander which cannot be otherwise 
than painful to any one who cherishes 
the memory of the two men, with a 



54 Social llift ano literature 

grateful sense of the service they have 
rendered in the promotion of senti- 
ments of charity and kind feelings 
among fellow-mortals. 

The following letter from Dickens 
to Irving, written before he had 
thought of visiting the United States, 
is such a delightful tribute to the 
genius of our countryman, and so 
honorable to Dickens himself, that no 
lover of their writings can fail to en- 
joy it. 

Irving had read and enjoyed Dick- 
ens's productions as they appeared, 
and on perusing the story of little 
Nell he could no longer repress his 
desire to testify to the author his in- 
terest in the tale and his appreciation 
of the genius that conceived it. 

His letter elicited this hearty re- 
sponse from Dickens : — 

" My dear Sir, — There is no man 



S(ift^ fm& Ho* SS 

in the world who could have given 
me the heartfelt pleasure you have 
by your kind note of the 13th of 
last month. There is no living writer, 
and there are very few among the 
dead, whose approbation I should feel 
so proud to earn. And with every- 
thing you have written upon my 
shelves, and in my thoughts, and in 
my heart of hearts, I may honestly 
and truly say so. If you could know 
how earnestly I write this, you would 
be glad to read it, and I hope you will 
be, faintly guessing at the warmth of 
the hand I autographically hold out 
to you over the broad Atlantic. 

" I wish I could find in your wel- 
come letter some hint of an intention 
to visit England. I should love to go 
with you, as I have gone, God knows 
how often, into Little Britain, and 
East Cheap, and Green Arbor Court, 



56 Social ILife anD literature 

and Westminster Abbey. I should 
like to travel with you outside the last 
of the coaches down to Bracebridge 
Hall. It would make my heart glad 
to compare notes with you about that 
shabby gentleman in the oilcloth coat 
and red nose who sat in the nine-cor- 
nered back parlor of the Masons 
Arms. And about Robert Preston 
and the tallow chandler's widow, whose 
sitting-room is second nature to me. 
And about all those delightful places 
and people that I used to walk about 
and dream of in the daytime, when a 
very small and not over-particularly- 
taken-care-of boy. I have a good deal 
to say, too, about that dashing Alonzo 
de Ojeda, that you can't help being 
fonder of than you ought to be ; and 
much to hear concerning Moorish 
legend and poor unhappy Boabdil. 
" Diedrich Knickerbocker I have 



Stift^ ^tdxi ^go* 57 

worn to death in my pocket, and yet I 
should show you his mutilated carcass 
with a joy past all expression. I have 
been so accustomed to associate you 
with my pleasantest and happiest 
thoughts that I rush at once into full 
confidence with you, and fall, as it 
were, naturally and by the very laws 
of gravity into your arms. I don't 
know what to say first or what to 
leave unsaid. Questions come throng- 
ing to my pen, as to the lips of people 
who meet after long hoping to do so, 
and I am constantly disposed to break 
off and tell you again how glad I am 
this moment has arrived. 

" I cannot thank you enough for 
your cordial and generous praise, or 
tell what deep and lasting gratifica- 
tion it has given me. 

" I hope to have many letters from 
you, and to exchange a frequent cor- 



5 8 Social %ift ano ILtterature 

respondence. After the first two or 
three I shall settle down into a con- 
nected style, and become gradually 
rational. You know what the feeling 
is after having written a letter, and 
sealed it, and sent it off. I shall pic- 
ture you reading this and answering 
it before it has lain one night in the 
post-office. 

" Ten to one, before it reaches New 
York I shall be writing you again. 

" Always your faithful friend, 

"Chas. Dickens." 



^ oBcorge €icftnor antr oBeorgc ^, 
i^iliarb. 

I call to mind only one instance of 
criticism which is parallel in its su- 
perciliousness to this opinion of Mr. 
Lathrop, in the face of the established 
verdict of the best minds of the pre- 



i?ift^ fm& 020* 59 

vious half century, of whom Scott may 
be taken as the exponent. 

When Hillards "Life of George 
Ticknor " was published, it took rank, 
both at home and abroad, as one of 
the most instructive and entertaining 
works of its class. Its interest is 
chiefly due to the terms of intimacy 
on which it places the reader with the 
men and women whose position or in- 
trinsic worth has given them the 
strongest claim upon the respect of 
all who honor nobility of character. 
Probably no American has ever been 
so cordially received and admitted 
into the intimate friendship and cor- 
respondence of so wide a circle of the 
men and women whom the world has 
most delighted to honor, and in this 
delicious memoir we may feast our 
souls in familiar intercourse with them 
through the medium of his letters and 



6o Social %ift ano ^Literature 

journals. Mr. Ticknor was welcomed 
by all the best people in every coun- 
try, making new friends wherever he 
went, and keeping them through life ; 
finding himself by a sort of natural 
affinity on a familiar footing with au- 
thors, wits, statesmen, crowned heads, 
and leaders of fashion ; being present 
at a critical moment to hear Talley- 
rand's deep oracular utterances ; re- 
ceiving Prince Metternich's confi- 
dences by the hour together ; admitted 
to Madame De StaeFs dying couch ; 
standing in the privileged circle near 
enough to hear Lady Jersey refusing 
the Duke of Wellington admittance 
to '' Almack's." 

In England the book was declared 
to be the " richest gift of biographical 
literature we have ever received from 
America," and the London " Saturday 
Review " said of it : — 



^ift^ fm& ^20* 6i 

" One is puzzled to know how a 
young American should from his first 
landing in Liverpool to wherever his 
travels led him come to be on inti- 
mate terms with everybody of name 
throughout civilized Europe, should 
be passed on from England to France, 
France to Germany, Germany to Italy, 
and thence to Spain, everywhere re- 
ceived by the ' best people.' " 

Yet this man, whose companion- 
ship and correspondence were eagerly 
sought by such men and women as I 
have named, whose house in Boston 
was the lode-star of attraction for men 
of the highest culture from every quar- 
ter of the globe, and who, beside the 
fame reflected upon his country by 
his great work on *' Spanish Litera- 
ture," is entitled to the gratitude of 
every American, as being the founder 
of the free library system of the coun- 



62 foetal ILife anD %itttntutt 

try, was served up by the literary cor- 
respondent of the leading daily jour- 
nal of one of our principal cities (a 
well-known female writer) as one who 
owed the honor of being brought be- 
fore the pubHc in an elaborate memoir 
to the fact that " he was the represen- 
tative of a class of men peculiar to 
Boston, whose deeds or words possess 
little interest except to members of the 
charmed circle to which he belonged." 

Before resigning ourselves to the 
conviction of the worthlessness of all 
that we have heretofore prized among 
our dearest possessions, let us cast 
one fond glance upon the Brumma- 
gem ware which in our ignorance we 
took to be genuine. 

Beginning with the members of 
" The Five of Clubs," it is really not 
surprising that we took them to be 
men of culture and with some preten- 



iFift? fm& 0go. 63 

sion to scholarship. George Ticknor's 
letters and journals are full of allu- 
sions to individuals of the association, 
which show that he shared the com- 
mon delusion. For instance, he thus 
alludes to Hillard in a letter to John 
Kenyon : — 

" If anybody like Hillard were go- 
ing to London, I should charge him 
with an especial commission to see 
you. But such ambassadors are rare, 
and I do not send any but the best 
to old friends like you, for I do not 
choose to lower the standard by which 
you measure our countrymen. His 
book on Italy is more successful than 
anything of the sort ever printed 
here. Above five thousand copies 
have been sold." 

It is not yet ten years since Hil- 
lard's death. He was the last sur- 
vivor of " The Five of Clubs," and the 



64 Social ILife anD ^Literature 

following passages from the notices of 
his death in different papers will show 
the estimation in which he was held : 

" The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop 
now only remains of that eminently 
gifted coterie of Boston orators in 
which Edward Everett, Rufus Choate, 
and George S. Hillard were such bril- 
liant lights. The eloquence of this 
gifted circle was part of the reputation 
and the possessions of the community 
in which they dwelt, conferring an 
acknowledged preeminence, and mak- 
ing the city the envy of her commer- 
cial rivals. Mr. Hillard s fine poetical 
conceptions, breadth of culture, and 
impassioned temperament rendered 
him a worthy peer of the brightest 
exemplars of the golden era of Bos- 
ton eloquence." 

" He is the purest classical scholar 
of his generation at the Boston bar," 



5^ift^ Shears ^%o. 65 

was said of him twenty-five years ago 
by one who knew him well. " He was 
then the friend of all the friendless in 
literature and art. Everybody went 
to him, and nobody went away with- 
out being elevated by contact with 
him." 

" He was the most attractive of 
public speakers. His voice was sin- 
gularly sweet and melodious. His 
manner was graceful and pleasing. 
His diction was polished and elegant. 
He cultivated the art of oratory, and 
had few rivals who could compete 
with him in captivating public audi- 
ences." 

" He has left a place in this com- 
munity which there are few to occupy. 
Among those who will mourn for him 
with deep and tender affection will be 
many now successful in various walks 
of life, whom he took by the hand 



66 Social llift anu ILiterature^ 

when they needed help, encouraged 
and strengthened when they would 
otherwise have faltered, and showed 
them the way by which difficulties 
were overcome and triumphs were 
won." 

And yet within the last year a well- 
known popular writer has alluded to 
Hillard as " a man of much local fame, 
now rapidly fading, who in my youth 
was considered almost a model orator, 
acute, well -trained, skilful, and even 
persuasive ; " and he then quotes the 
remark of a friend after listening to 
" one of his old, cultured, highly elab- 
orated speeches." " I remember the 
time when that speech would 
have seemed to me the per- 
fection of oratory. Now 
it utterly fails to 
move me." 



i^^^^^^^i^i*:?^*:^^?:^ 



VI. 
po^ef^iBilitp of iHciSfpontiing* 



v^" 






VI. 

I RECALL two occasions in which 
my recollection of Felton is pleas- 
antly associated with the writings of 
Irving and Dickens which may here 
be appropriately cited. 

Soon after the publication of the 
" Tales of the Alhambra," I called, one 
day at Felton s room, in the second 
story of Holworthy Hall, at the south- 
east corner, and found him enjoying 
the rich feast, which he declared to 
be equal to anything Irving had pre- 
viously given us, and, turning to the 
story of the " Pilgrim of Love," he 
read aloud the account of the Prince's 
interviews with the swallow and the 



70 Social %ift ano iLiterature 

owl, with a keen relish of the delicate 
satire conveyed in the description of 
the flippancy of the one and the so- 
lemnity of the other; and then of his 
visit to the venerable old one-eyed 
raven in the tow^er, who had been 
commended to him as a great magi- 
cian who could by his arts disclose 
to him the whereabouts of the lovely 
damsel he was seeking. 

If any are left who remember Fel- 
ton's genial voice, they will respond 
in their hearts to my vivid recollec- 
tion of the unctuous tones in which 
he read the contemptuous reply of the 
sagacious old bird, and the roar of 
laughter with which he followed the 
conclusion, when the raven dismissed 
the subject as unworthy the attention 
of a sage, and, turning his single and 
venerable eye downward, resumed his 
poring upon the mathematical dia- 



5fift^ ftwc6 ^%o. 71 

gram inscribed upon the pavement of 
his cell. 

The other occasion to which I refer 
was several years later, but while Fel- 
ton was still Greek professor. It was 
one Saturday, when I dined with him 
and another member of The Five of 
Clubs at the restaurant then kept by 
H. D. Parker in the basement at the 
corner of Court Street and Court 
Square. This was nearly twenty years 
before the Parker House was built. 

While we were waiting for our din- 
ner, Felton drew a newspaper from 
his pocket, and asked us if we had 
seen any of the " Pickwick Papers," 
which were then appearing from time 
to time in one of the Boston papers, 
copied from the English papers as 
they were irregularly received, for 
ocean steamers were as yet unknown. 
The reply from my companion was in 



72 Social 3Life anD iliteratuw 

the negative, followed by the inquiry : 
" Who is the author ? '' 

" Nobody knows," said Felton. 
" He signs himself ' Boz,' which is all 
that is yet known of him ; but we have 
had no such writer for many a day." 

And then he read to us the sage re- 
marks of the elder Weller to his son 
on the subject of widows, and again 
his contagious laugh pealed forth. 

When Dickens afterwards visited 
this country in 1842, he became, as is 
well known, a warm personal friend of 
Felton's, and I remember with vivid 
pleasure the letters of the latter from 
New York descriptive of their delight- 
ful experiences together there. In an 
address to the Massachusetts Histori- 
cal Society after the death of Irving, 
Felton thus alludes to his recollections 
of the two men during that period : — 

*' I passed much of the time with 



^ift^ fme 020* 73 

Mr. Irving and Mr. Dickens, and it 
was delightful to witness the cordial 
intercourse of the young man, in the 
flush and glory of his fervent genius, 
and his elder compeer, in the assured 
possession of immortal renown. Dick- 
ens said in his frank, hearty manner 
that from childhood he had known the 
works of Irving, and that before he had 
thought of coming to this country he 
had received a letter from him express- 
ing the delight he felt in reading the 
story of little Nell, and from that time 
they had shaken hands autographi- 
cally across the Atlantic." 

JUcjfgonliing* 

With these and a host of similar 
memories and associations in my 
mind I trust I may be pardoned for 



74 Social llife anu ILiterature 

my inability to respond to such a crit- 
icism as the following from Mr. La- 
th rop : — 

" The lightness and vagueness of 
theme with which Irving is content 
is very manifest in ' Wolfert's Roost ' 
and the ' Tales of a Traveller/ and in 
* Bracebridge Hall/ and at times the 
minute atom of real emotion or defi- 
nite incident at the bottom of these 
is almost stifled by his insatiable de- 
sire for words. But the most remark- 
able example is in his treatment of 
the Rip Van Winkle legend. Irving 
shows in his sketch of this tradition 
an excellent sense of what constitutes 
elegant entertainment ; his perception 
of the gentlemanly in literature is ad- 
mirable ; he contrives good conven- 
tional contrasts, and rounds in the 
whole with a sonorous and well -de- 
rived style. It is the most completely 



i?iftp fm6 ago* 75 

* polite' writing. But the absence is 
as complete of anything like profound 
insight, deep imaginative sympathy, 
or genuinely dramatic rendering of 
character and circumstance. All this 
finds parallel, too, in his style, which 
the systematic and loyal pufifing of 
half a century has not been able to 
make into anything else than a patent- 
leather Addisonian one." 

How a " patent-leather Addisonian " 
style can be at the same time a " so- 
norous and well-derived " one is a co- 
nundrum I shall not attempt to solve, 
but as a sample of the " systematic 
and loyal puffing" to which Mr. La- 
throp alludes, I venture to cite the 
following from the pen of Mr. George 
Ripley, who, previous to the appear- 
ance of Mr. Lathrop, had ranked as 
perhaps the ablest and most reliable 
literary critic the country had pro- 
duced. 



^6 Social 3life ano literature 

In a review of Irving's " Life of 
Goldsmith '' he thus speaks of the 
author: — 

" There could not be a more admi- 
rable description of the influence of 
his own writings than Mr. Irving has 
given in his opening paragraph on 
Goldsmith. 

" There are few writers for whom 
the reader feels such personal kind- 
ness as for Oliver Goldsmith, for few 
have so eminently possessed the magic 
gift of identifying themselves with 
their writings. We read his charac- 
ter in every page, and grow into famil- 
iar intimacy with him as we read. 

" The artless benevolence that beams 
throughout his works ; the whimsical 
yet amiable views of human life and 
human nature ; the unforced humor, 
blending so happily with good feeling 
and good sense, and singularly dashed 



5fifVS ^tWCS jago* 77 

at times with a pleasing melancholy ; 
even the very nature of his pleasing 
and flowing style, all seem to bespeak 
his moral as well as intellectual qual- 
ities, and make us love the man at 
the same time that we admire the au- 
thor. While the productions of writ- 
ers of the loftier pretensions are suf- 
fered to moulder on our shelves, those 
of Goldsmith are cherished and laid 
in our bosoms. We do not quote 
them with ostentation, but they min- 
gle with our minds and sweeten our 
tempers ; they put us in good humor 
with ourselves and the world, and in 
so doing they make us happier and 
better men." 

The following extract from one of 
the notices of the fine edition of Irv- 
ing's works, revised by himself and 
published by the Putnams, after his 
return from Spain in 1848, is a further 



78 Social %ift anD ^Literature* 

proof of the lamentable ignorance of 
the critics of that day : — 

" If any works in our language are 
worthy of such choice embalming, and 
such an honored place in all libraries 
as these are destined to fill, it is those 
of Washington Irving. Their quaint 
and exhaustless humor, rich, graceful, 
and exuberant fancy, and the pure and 
natural vein of feeling which runs 
through them make them in an emi- 
nent sense household words, always 
cheering and soothing in their influ- 
ence, and conveying strengthening 
and instructive lessons in a form 
which the mind is always ready to re- 
ceive. To his writings the words of 
Sir Philip Sidney may be truly ap- 
plied : ' He Cometh to you with a tale 

that holdeth children from play 

and old men from the 

chimney corner.' '' 



VII. 
^ d^alem. — i^atljaniel l^alutljorne. 



VIL 

BUT if Mr. Lathrop has exposed 
the depravity of the literary taste 
of fifty years ago, it is to Mr. Henry 
James that we are indebted for en- 
Hghtening us in regard to the wretch- 
ed condition of social life before we 
had been permitted to bask in the 
broad sunlight of to-day. 

To return for a moment to " The 
Five of Clubs.'' The statement will 
not be disputed that its members may 
be taken as fair representatives of the 
best culture of the country at the 
period to which I refer. 

They were brilliant men, whose 
companionship was sought in the 



82 Social llife auD ^literature 

best society of New England, and 
they were ambitious to seize upon 
every opportunity to develop their 
powers by mingling with such society 
as afforded the best stimulus to intel- 
lectual culture. Now. it happens to 
be within my personal knowledge, 
that among the resources of social 
enjoyment most highly prized, cer- 
tainly by three of them, and always 
responded to with joyful alacrity, was 
the acceptance of an occasional invi- 
tation to visit Salem, where a circle 
of refined and highly cultivated soci- 
ety then existed, the solid worth and 
simple, unpretentious character of 
which comprised such elements of 
active progress as could nowhere be 
surpassed. 

Mrs. Silsbee's recent charming little 
book bears testimony to this fact, and 
were it not for the impropriety of 



ifift^ ^m& Z^o. 83 

bringing the names of private fami- 
lies before the public, it would be 
easy to prove the truth of my asser- 
tion from correspondence in my pos- 
session. I will make but a single 
extract from a letter written in later 
years by one of the " Five," and recur- 
ring to this very period : — 

** You do not know, and nobody 
knows, how many of the most joyous 
and happy recollections of my life 
are centred in Salem, — recollections, 
it is true, of a garden whose limits 
were narrow, but which was green 
with gladness." 

Here follow reminiscences of inci- 
dents and people whose influence had 
left their impress on his character, 
concluding as follows : — 

"In all these the memory of 

mingles, and brightens the picture. 
Well do I remember the long and 



84 Social ILife anD literature 

pleasant walks I used to take with 
him, and the tastes and various ideas 
I acquired from him. 

" All that I know or care about 
architecture is owing to the taste that 
he inspired, and much of my musical 
taste was formed by his correct and 
strictly accurate judgment. 

" And what is more than all this, I 
have before me, in my recollections of 
him, the model of a truly just and 
good man. 

*' When I think of all the beautiful 
attributes of his character, I am in- 
cited and encouraged to become like 
him as far as possible. I am taught 
how immeasurably above wealth and 
worldly pomp are the humble and 
truly Christian virtues which adorned 
his character. His memory is a rich 
legacy to all who knew him. These 
recollections of Salem are sacred to 



5^ift^ fme ^%o. 8s 

me, and I could spend the day long 
in recurring to them, but I know you 
will wish to hear what I am doing." 

No one will guess to whom the 
above beautiful apostrophe refers, and 
its value is enhanced by the fact that 
he was not one whose acquirements 
were exceptional 

He was simply a Salem ship-master 
with no better education than was 
then open to all who chose to improve 
themselves, and he was a fair repre- 
sentative of the social circles of the 
Salem of that day. The truth is that 
Salem society was then exceptional, 
not alone in its refinement and cul- 
ture, but in its independent thought 
and progressive spirit. 



86 Social ILife anti literature 
^ l^atljanid !^atDtl)ontc* 

Yet it IS precisely at this period 
that Mr. Henry James takes occasion 
to bemoan the hard fate of Haw- 
thorne in being doomed to pass his 
youth in such uncongenial society as 
that of Salem. 

" His situation," he says, " was in- 
trinsically poor; poor with a poverty 
that one almost hesitates to look into. 
When we think what the conditions 
of intellectual life must have been in 
a small New England town fifty years 
ago, and when we think of a young 
man of beautiful genius, with a love 
of literature and romance, of the 
picturesque of style and form and 
color, trying to make a career for 
himself in the midst of them, com- 
passion for the young man becomes 
our dominant sentiment." 



Sfift^ fears ago^ 87 

The incident which Mr. James se- 
lects in evidence of the prevailing 
lack of culture is certainly remarkable 
in the proof it affords of his readiness 
to jump at conclusions from insuffi- 
cient premises, while overlooking their 
simplest and most obvious interpreta- 
tion. 

He quotes from Lathrop the account 
of Hawthorne's first visit to Miss Pea- 
body, — whose youngest sister after- 
wards became his wife, — forestalling 
the readers opinion of the inference 
he draws from it by the remark that 
'' it has a very simple and innocent 
air, but to a person not without an im- 
pression of the early days of ' culture ' 
in New England, it will be pregnant 
with historic meaning." 

Miss Peabody had invited Haw- 
thorne's sisters — who were her near 
neighbors — to spend an evening with 



88 Social %ik anD ^literature 

her, and to bring their brother, whom 
she wished to thank for his beautiful 
tales. " Entirely to her surprise," the 
invitation was accepted, and " the 
hostess brought out Flaxman's ' De- 
signs for Dante,' which she had just 
received from Prof. Felton, and the 
party made an evening's entertain- 
ment of them." 

Few readers would think of citing 
this as an evidence of deficiency or vul- 
garity of taste. Flaxman was then at 
the head of his profession in England, 
and certainly his illustrations of Dante 
demand a degree of " culture " for their 
enjoyment considerably beyond medi- 
ocrity. Felton knew that in sending 
them to Salem he was placing them 
where they would be appreciated and 
enjoyed. 

When Miss Peabody had succeeded, 
" greatly to her surprise," in drawing 



i?ift^ ftm ago* 89 

Hawthorne from his seclusion, the fact 
that instead of spending the evening 
in idle gossip, the latest works re- 
ceived from a great artist were pro- 
duced and examined with interest, 
would be regarded by most people as 
evidence of some considerable refine- 
ment of taste. Perhaps even the eagle 
eye of Mr. James would have detected 
nothing more than this, had Mr. La- 
throp simply stated that Miss Peabody 
had just received these designs from 
Prof. Felton, and she brought them 
out for the inspection of her guests ; 
and probably he had no intention of 
conveying any further meaning than 
such expression would carry. But he 
happened to use the phrase, " the 
party made an evening's entertain- 
ment of them," and Mr. James, being 
" a person not without an impression 
of the early days of culture in New 



90 Social 3ltfe auD iLiteratuw 

England," pounced upon the sentence, 
which in spite of its "simple and inno- 
cent air " was " pregnant with historic 
meaning," and straightway proved 
from it the wretched shifts for social 
enjoyment to which people in those 
days were reduced. 

Would it not be prudent for Mr. 
James to consider the bare possibility 
that the coming half century may wit- 
ness such an advance from the culture 
of the present day, that equal surprise 
and commiseration may be excited by 
the thought of devoting an evening to 
the perusal of the fortunes of Daisy 
Miller ? 

Mr. James considers it a very re- 
markable fact that Hawthorne should 
have become so familiar with the best 
English writers, as is proved by his 
charming expressions and the purity 
of his style. In saying this he uncon- 



ifift^ fmv6 020* 91 

sciously utters a truth in regard to a 
circumstance which is of vital im- 
portance. 

Hawthorne was entirely indepen- 
dent of Salem society, or any other 
society. In his youth he lived the 
life of a hermit, and he never entirely 
emerged from it. It was very rarely 
that he appeared outside the house 
in the daytime, and never outside his 
room if a visitor was in the house. At 
night he would sally forth on long 
solitary rambles, digesting and rumi- 
nating the intellectual food he had 
absorbed during the day. His intel- 
lectual growth proved the wholesome 
and nourishing character of the food, 
which in fact was such as few towns at 
that day could have provided. " Free 
libraries " were unknown at that day, 
but Salem possessed even then a rare 
treasure in an Athenaeum, founded on 



92 foetal %ift anu ^literature 

a very valuable private library, cap- 
tured m transitu by a privateer dur- 
ing the Revolution, and developed by 
men who appreciated its value, till it 
comprised all that was essential for 
the sustenance and vigorous growth 
of such a mind as Hawthorne's. 

He found there the pabulum he 
needed ; and perhaps it was owing to 
the fact that he digested and assimi- 
lated it in the privacy and seclusion 
of his own apartment, varied only by 
his solitary rambles at night, that his 
tales assumed the weird, uncanny 
spirit that pervades them, which would 
have been checked, and perhaps 
wholly dissipated, had it been exposed 
to the broad light of social convention- 
alism. It would certainly be wrong 
to ascribe the development of Haw- 
thorne's powers to his social surround- 
ings, but it is equally so to attempt to 



Sfiftv fm& ago* 93 

magnify his attainments by dispar- 
aging the tone of the society which 
he scrupulously avoided. 



It would have been more creditable 
to Mr. James's skill in investigating 
facts if, instead of sneering at Salem 
as a community of merchants and 
ship-masters, who owed their respecta- 
bility to their wealth, he had reversed 
his statement, and given what was 
the simple truth : that Salem had 
grown rich and attained social emi- 
nence by the superior sagacity and 
intelligence her citizens had exhibited 
in extending the commerce of the 
nation by opening trade with all quar- 
ters of the globe, at a time when the 
wars and jealousies of civilized na- 
tions rendered it so precarious as 



94 Social llife auD ^literature 

often to demand an intimate knowl- 
edge of national law and the exercise 
of the wisest diplomacy on the part 
of those who conducted it, and when 
hitherto unknown sources of wealth 
were being revealed to the world by 
Salem men in their voyages of discov- 
ery and dealings with savage tribes. 

The possession of wealth in those 
days was in itself the evidence of 
such intelligence, and such industry 
and energy in its application, as to 
constitute a valid claim to respecta- 
bility ; for wealth was not within the 
reach of mediocrity of intellect, and 
the " dim twilight of that earlier civ- 
ilization " had not yet revealed the 
secrets of stock gambling. Abun- 
dant evidence of all I claim for the 
superior intelligence and executive 
ability of the Salem men of those 
days may be found in the archives of 



i?ifti? fms 020* 95 

the Essex Institute, while the cata- 
logues of Harvard College will afford 
equally conclusive testimony of their 
appreciation of the value of educa- 
tion. 

Few, if any, are left who recall the 
scenes and people of those days with 
the vivid interest they still retain in 
my mind. 

My own life has not been an une- 
ventful one, and in its course has 
brought me in contact with varied 
phases of social experience, including 
that of intimate relations and corre- 
spondence with men and wom.en whose 
friendship has been the richest bless- 
ing this life has brought me, and a 
reunion with whom comprises a chief 
feature of attractive interest in my 
hopes of the future. Of these friends, 
no purer or nobler examples have 
come within my ken than those who 



96 Social %ift anD %ittvntntt. 

individually or collectively have been 
so sneeringly alluded to by the flippant 
writers whose words I have quoted. 

There is reason to hope that the 
stage of existence on which they have 
now^ entered is not entirely devoid of 
"some provision for enjoyment;" and 
if they have proved incapable of ap- 
preciating its opportunities, let us 
trust that consideration will be had of 
the fact that their course of prepara- 
tion was concluded before the 
advent of the lights which 
have since dawned up- 
on the literary 
horizon. 



^ 



By MRS. AMDS R, LITTLE. 



Superbly Illustrated with about loo Phototypes 

and Cuts, Tailpieces, Initial Letters, etc. 

Qiiarto, cloth, gilt top, $7.50. 

CUPPLES AND HURD, Publishers. 

DI BoYLSTON Street, Boston, Mass. 
Opposite the Public Gnrden. 



The World as We Saw It. 

Mrs. Little saw the kingdoms of the 
earth, but she came home certain that there 
is nothing more beautiful to be found than 
an American apple-orchard in full bloom ! 
So the story of her journey has a touch of 
refined nationalism^ charming both to a cos- 
mopolite and to a patriot. One gets, in 
reading, a reflection of the writers' own de- 
light in all the quaint and picturesque 
people and customs that she saw. She 
visited Oregon and Honolulu, Japan and 
Java. She climbed the Pyramids, and she 
gazed upon the midnight sun. She trav- 
elled in China and India, Australia and 
Palestine, Turkey and Russia and Finland, 
as well as over the tourist ground of Europe, 
and everywhere she saw and noted in her 
own way the substance of all that makes 
every page of her book charmingly graphic 
and individual. 

It is safe to say that no more sumptuous 
book of travel has ever been issued either 
by an American or an English house, in 
regard to printing, illustrations, and all the 
accessories which go to the making of a 
perfect book. 

The illustrations have been carefully 
selected to represent only the places that 
Mrs. Little visited. The drawings, which 
are from the pens of L. S. Ipsen, E. Eldron 
Dean, and George R. Tolman, and the 
Photogravures have been faithfully repro- 
duced by the Boston Photogravure Com- 
pany. 




YESTERDAYS WITH ACTORS 



BY 



KATE REIGNDLnS-WINSLn-ffiZ-. 



One volume, with numerous portraits of Famous 

Actors. Octavo, cloth, colored top, $2.00. 

White and gold, gilt top, $2.50. 



CUPPLES AND HURD, 
Publishers, Booksellers and Importers, 

{Opposite the Public Garden.) 

94 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass, 



Yefterdays With zA^tors. 



Reminiscences, personal in their nature, of 
the stage, and of famous actors and actresses, 
involving anecdotes, criticism, and adventures 
behind the scenes. These sketches are written 
in a light and breezy style, without pretension 
or stiffness, and embrace little of formal stage- 
history, dates or statistics. To theatre-goers of 
the last quarter of a century, the names of Char- 
lotte Cushman, Edwin Forrest, John Brougham, 
E. A. Sothern, Laura Keene, Matilda Heron, 
James E. Murdoch, Agnes Robertson, Ben De 
Bar, William Warren, Julia Bennet Barrow, John 
Wilkes Booth, Mrs. Vincent, Kate Bateman, 
Mrs. Lander, etc will bring a host of agreeable 
recollections. The accomplished and respected 
lady and famous actress, who writes these recol- 
lections, was a student under some of these, and 
a fellow- worker with others, and tells at first- 
hand her experience with them, and the inci- 
dents of her brilliant and laborious career. 
Without the prolixity of biography or the dry- 
ness of a mere record of events, these recollec- 
tions of a most interesting class of people are 
told wnth the frank simplicity with .which they 
might be repeated at the fireside to a circle of 
intimate friends. The illustrations are richly 
interspersed throughout the text, and embrace a 
portrait of Mrs. Winslow and vignettes of the 
artists described, reproduced from unique like- 
nesses. 



XOTJES OF THF l^nESS, 

The book is that of a gifted, honorable, truth- 
ful and hard-working woman who does not con- 
descend to deal in shams, half-truths and idle 
romancing. Altogether it is a deeplj^ interesting 
book, mainly because it is so honest and true. 
{The Beacoji). 

The book is full of bits of character sketching 
and will be held in no little interest. {Boston 
Tt'aveller). 

In the rage for theatrical memoirs at present 
prevailing, this fresh, thoroughly interesting 
volume of wholly unhackneyed stage history 
will come as a boon to many, especially to those 
collectors who are swayed by the strong current 
impulse for "extra illustrating." The w^ork can 
hardly fail to secure the wide popularity it 
merits, aided as it is by handsome printing on a 
wide, well-margined page of stout paper, and in 
the daintiest of covers, the whole conveying the 
impression of an " Edition de luxe.'''' {Gazette). 

The book is written in the best of temper and 
in a spirit of sincere loyalty to the dramatic pro- 
fession, and of affectionate regard for the friends 
whose careers and characters are lightly touched 
upon. 

The new firm of Cupples & Hurd, who pub- 
lish the volume, have given it a dainty form, set 
off with catch-lines at the side of each page and 
embellished v/ith numerous portraits, full page 
and vignette. The book is one which people on 
the other side of the footlights will find thor- 
oughly enjoyable- {Boston Journal.) 



CUPPLES fir HURD, 

Publishers, Booksellers and Importers. 

94 BOYLSTON STREET, 

{Opposite the Public Garden,) 

Boston, Mass. 



Messrs. Cupples arui Hurd have 
opened at the above address a fine stock 
of miscellaneous books for which they 
will be pleased to receive orders. 

All orders by ?nail will receive 
prompt attention. 

The newest books, whether American, 
English or French, will be kept con- 
stantly in stock. 

Correspo?ide?ice solicited, 



BELLES-LETTRES. 



THACKERAY'S LONDON: His Haunts and the Scenes 
of his Novels. With two original portraits (etched 
and engraved) ; a facsimile of a page of the original 
manuscript of " The Newcomes;" together with sev- 
eral exquisitely engraved woodcuts. By William 
H. RiDEiNG. I vol., square i2mo, cloth, gilt top, 
in box, $i.oo. 

" Mr. Rideing has made a delightful volume of these 
associations, quite in the spirit of Thackeray, and a vol- 
ume for which countless readers of ' Vanity Fair * and 
* The Newcomes' will thank him heartily." — The Book- 
Buyer. 

THE TERRACE OF MON DESIR: A Novel of Russian 
Life. By the daughter of an American admiral, and 
wife of a Russian diplomate. lamo, cloth, elegant, 
$1.25 ; paper, 50 cents. 

*' It is to be hoped this is but the avant garde of 
many yet to come, and that in Madame de Meissner we 
may be proud to claim an American Henri Greville." — 
Washington Sunday Herald. 

SELECTIONS FROM BUDDHA. By Max Muller. 
i2mo. Cloth, 50 cents. 

LIGHT ON THE PATH. A treatise written for the per- 
sonal use of those who are ignorant of the Eastern 
Wisdom, and who desire to enter within its in- 
fluence. 5;:h edition. i2mo. Cloth, 50 cents. 

WHAT IS THEOSOPHY ? By a Fellow of the Thco- 
sophical Society. A handbook of that ** wisdom of 
the East " which is so much in vogue to-day. 12B10, 
cloth, 50 cents. 

Jl^^" Any of the above works sent postpaid to any 
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CUPPLES k HURD. Publishers, Boston, 



BELLES-L E TTRES. 



THE MYSTERY OF PAIM. By James Hinton, M.D. 
With an Introduction by James R. Nichols, M.D., 
author of " Whence, What, Where? " etc. A reli- 
gious classic. Twenty editions sold in England. 
I vol., i6mo, cloth, $i.oo. 
** No word of praise can add any thing to the value of 
this little work, which has now taken its place as one of 
the classics of religious literature. The tender, reverent 
and searching spirit of the author has come as a great 
consolation and help to many persons." — New-York 
Critic. 

THE BEST HUNDRED BOOKS. The controversy starte.1 
by Sir John Lubbock, and upheld by Carlyle, John 
Ruskin, the Prince of Wales, Mr. Gladstone, Max 
Miiller, Wilkie Collins, Henry Irving, etc., which 
has been shaking England and this country. Fifti- 
eth THOUSAND. 4to, paper, 25 cents. 

MEXICO. By A. F. Bandelier. With heliotypes, 
plates, woodcuts, map, etc. Large 8vo, cloth, 326 
pp. Second edition. $5.00. 

SWITZERLAND AND THE SWISS. Historical and 
Descriptive. By S. H. M. Byers, American Con- 
sul. Illustrated, i vol., 8vo, leatherette, $1.50. 

HEIDI : Her Years of Wandering and Learning. How 

SHE USED WHAT SHE LEARNED. A story for chil- 
dren and those who love children. From the Ger- 
man of Johanna Spyri, by Louise Brooks. 2 vols, 
in one, i2mo, 668 pp., cloth, elegant, $1.50. 

*' Altogether it is one [a book] which we suspect will 
be looked back upon, a generation hence, by people who 
ROW read it in their childhood; and they will hunt for 
the old copy, to read it to their children." — Atlantic 
Monthly. 

1&^ Any of the above works sent postpaid to any 
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ike price. 

CUPPLES h HURD, Publishers, Boston, 



BELLE S-LE TTRES. 



RICO AND WISELI. Rico and Stineli, and how Rico 
Found a Homo. From the German of Johanna 
Spyri, by Louise Brooks. A companion to 
" Heidi." i2mo, 509 pp., cloth, elegant, $1.50. 

VERONICA AND OTHER FRIENDS. From the German 
of Johanna Spyri. By Louise Brooks. i2mo. 
Cloth, ^1.50. 

GRITLI'S CHILDREN. From the German of Johanna 
Spyri. By Louise Brooks. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, Dean of WestmJNster: 

His Life, Work, and Teachings. By Grace A. 
Oliver. With fine etched portrait. Fourth edition. 
I vol., i2mo, half calf, $4.00 ; tree calf, $5.00 ; cloth, 
$1.50. 

ANNOUCHKA. A Tale. By Ivan Turgenef. i vol., 
i6mo, cloth, $1.50, 

POEMS IN PROSE. By Ivan Turgenef. With por- 
trait. I vol., i2mo, cloth, gilt top, uncut edges, 
$1.25. 

EVERY MAN HIS OWN POET; or, The Inspired 
Singer's Recipe Book. By W. H. Mallock, 
author of " New Republic," etc. Eleventh edition. 
i6mo, 25 cents. 

THE ART OF FICTION. By Walter Besant and 
Henry James. Second edition, i vol., i6rao, 
cloth, 50 cents. 

THE STORY OF IDA. By Francesca. Edited, with 
Preface, by John Ruskin. With frontispiece by 
author. i6mo, limp cloth, red edges, 75 cents. 



Any of the above works sent postpaid to any 
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the price. 

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BELLES-LE TTRES. 



WHAT SHALL MAKE US WHOLE? or, Thoughts in 
the Direction of Man's Spiritual and Physical In- 
tegrity. By Helen Bigelow Merrii\ian. i6mo. 
Unique boards. 75 cents. 

WHENCE, WHAT, WHERE? A View of the Origin, 
Nature, and Destiny of Man. By James R. 
Nichols, M. D. Eleventh Edition. Carefully 
revised, with portrait. i2mo. $1.25 
Whence, O Heavens ? Whither ? — Carlyle. 

THOUGHTS. By Ivan Panin. Two vols. i6mo. 
Each 50 cents. 

The penetration of life to be discovered in these 
sayings justifies the form, and repays the reader. 

— A tla7itic Monthly. 

YESTERDAYS WITH ACTORS. By Kate Reignolds 

Winslow. Illustrated with phototypes and vign- 
ettes. 8vo. $2.00, White and gold, gilt top, $2.50. 

Bright and chatty reminiscences of famous Actors 
and Actresses, gleaming with life and action, sparkling 
with humor and drollery. 

HARVARD : The first American University. By G. G. 

Bush. i6mo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.25. 
lONA : A Lay of Ancient Greece. By Payne Erskine. 

8vo. gilt top, $1.75. 
Musical and full of classic beauty, recalling in many 
passages the delicate and subtle charm of Keats. 

SOCIAL LIFE AND LITERATURE, Fifty Years ago. 

Foolscap 8vo. gilt top, $1.00. 

SOLOMON MAIMON : An Autobiography. Translated, 

with additions and notes, by J. Clark Murray. 
Cr. 8vo. $2.00. 

THE WIT, WISDOM, AND PATHOS OF HEINE. By J. 

Snodgrass. 2nd edition, enlarged. Cr. 8vo. $2.00. 

(H^^ A ny of tJie above ivorks sent postpaid to any 
part of the United States or Canada on receipt of 
th€p>rice. 

CUPPLES&HURD, Publishers, Boston. 



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